Art for Addiction Recovery

You don’t have to be the next Picasso in order for art to make a difference in your recovery. Here’s how anyone can use art to help maintain long-term sobriety.

Are you interested in tapping into your creative side, but don't know where to begin? Art is a great tool for maintaining your addiction recovery. Not only making your own art, but also viewing art can be beneficial for your overall wellbeing and aid you in keeping on track. As Pablo Picasso once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
How can you integrate art into your recovery maintenance plan?

Make a vision board. A vision board is a creative visual representation of your goals and aspirations. Making a vision board is a simple yet powerful way to get your creative juices flowing and bring energy to the things you want in life.
To make a vision board collect images from magazines, photos, or the internet that represent your goals. Include images and words that inspire you, reflect positive affirmations, and are motivational. Your vision board can be focused on one aspect of your life such as wanting to exercise more often, or can represent your overall aspirations. Once you have collected images assemble them into a collage, and don't forget to hang your finished board somewhere you can see it each day!

Create a visual journal. Journaling has many positive health benefits. Getting your thoughts out onto paper can help you bring clarity into your life and reduce stress. In addition to writing, using art materials such as oil pastels or collage to visually depict your thoughts and feelings can be a valuable addition to a journal.
Try using collage to symbolise what you are grateful for instead of writing a gratitude list. Writing about feelings of anger, shame, and sadness can be helpful in reducing the intensity of these feelings. In your art journal use colour, shape and line to express how you're feeling – you may be surprised at how creating a drawing of your feelings offers a different type of release.

Colour a mandala. This is a great way to incorporate both art and mindfulness in your recovery. Very simply, mandalas are pieces of art created within a circle. The process is meant to be meditative and give the artist insight into how their brain works. Traditional mandala practices are found in religious and spiritual teachings around the world that sometimes involve complex chants and rituals – but making your own doesn't have to be complex at all.
Before creating or colouring a mandala do a simple mindfulness meditation to begin the process. You can choose to colour a pre-drawn mandala or create your own design. Either way it's important not to plan or think about what colours you use or lines you draw. Let your mind go and accept whatever comes.

Attend an exhibition opening. Or visit your local art museum. Not only do these activities give you an opportunity to meet new people, but viewing art can enhance your wellbeing. Viewing art is also the best way to get inspired to create something yourself!

Taking care of your mind and body is essential to long lasting recovery. Make some art to reduce stress, and become more mindful and creative in the process.

(These articles are the sole property of “The Cabin Chiang Mai”, they are its original authors.)

MBCT - MINDFULNESS-BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY AND ADDICTION TREATMENT

In recent years, cognitive behavioural approaches to addiction therapy have been supplemented with aspects of mindfulness, known as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy or MBCT.

If you have been tuned in to celebrity trends lately, you will have noticed that meditation has become popular in star-studded circles. With big names extolling the benefits of mindfulness, it's little wonder that awareness practices are gaining momentum in many aspects of the culture, from business to sports .

Meditation has been reaching a popular audience, as well, with well-known books by authors such as Rangana Rupavi Choudhary and Thích Nhất Hạnh challenging us to be present, mindful and compassionate. And what is true for everyday people is also true for those who have addictions or other mental health conditions.

A little history is in order to help locate these new trends in mindfulness in addiction treatment. In the last 20 years, cognitive behavioural approaches have become the predominant research-validated treatments for substance abuse disorders. However, in recent years, these approaches have been supplemented with aspects of mindfulness, and are known as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy or MBCT. To understand how these two approaches complement each other, we will first take a look at cognitive-behavioural therapies.

Such therapies help people recover by introducing new skills designed to change the thoughts and behaviours that contribute to substance use. The emphasis is on self-efficacy, or teaching those in recovery skills that they can then use on their own. In addition, the role of emotions, effective ways of responding to emotions, and actually developing a more positive mood are also addressed as ways of recovering from addiction. However, in cognitive and behavioural therapies, such interventions primarily take the form of new behaviours and cognitions designed to influence emotions.

Many people with substance abuse disorders also have co-occurring mood disorders, such as depression or anxiety. In many ways, cognitive behavioural therapies are a good treatment option, as their focus on thoughts and behaviours helps to treat the mood disorder. However, the addition of mindfulness-based therapies offers additional benefits to existing treatment protocols.

Therapies with a mindfulness component directly address emotional regulation issues – using additional techniques not found in the traditional cognitive-behavioral approach. These techniques focus on observation, awareness and acceptance of uncomfortable emotions – as well as a range of meditative practices designed to develop awareness more generally. A simple example might include sitting and observing breathing in and out. The benefits of mindfulness to mental, physical, and emotional health are well-documented, and those benefits are beginning to be researched with addiction treatment. At Shafa Home we have long been using mindfulness as a key component of our treatment programme with excellent results.

If you are concerned about addiction, please contact a specialist at Shafa Home for a consultation.

(These articles are the sole property of “The Cabin Chiang Mai”, they are its original authors.)